Shoe rack



Aug. 17,1937.

P. S. M MICHAEL SHOE RACK Filed Sept 19, 1935 M c M S. M P

A TTORNEY Patented Aug. 17, 1937 UNITED STAES 9 Claims.

This invention relates to shoetrees and racks therefor adapted for use generally as a working combination.

Some of the objects of my invention are to pro- 5 vide a simply constructed shoetree which may be workably mounted on a suitable rack adapted to carry a plurality of such trees compactly spaced with the treed shoes occupying a generally vertical position with their soles and heels preferably adjacent a supporting door or wall. The rack also serves to guard against contact between treed shoes and adjacent clothing.

Other objects are to have a mounted shoetree flexibly or pivotally movable to facilitate the 15 operation of treeing a shoe thereon, said movement first bringing said tree into a relatively non-interfering treeing position in respect to adjacent closely spaced trees and the supporting wall, and second, providing for the easy free 20 shifting of their relative angular positions as said shoe is brought into position on said tree, a detachably mounted tree being provided so that any rack may readily be equipped with trees of any desired size.

25 My invention also consists in certain new and original features of construction and combination of parts as hereinafter set forth and claimed.

Although the novel features which are believed to be characteristic of this invention will be par- 30 ticularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto, the invention itself, as to its objects and advantages, and the manner in which it may be carried out, may be better understood by reference to the accompanying drawing forming a part 35 thereof, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the shoetree and rack combination with one shoe in place thereon.

Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-section on the line 22 of Fig. 1.

40 Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-section through the treed shoe of Fig. 1 showing the tree therein.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2 showing the retractor spring.

Fig. 5 is a crosssection on the line 5-5 of 45 Fig. 4.

Like reference characters denote like parts in the various figures of the drawing.

In the drawing accompanying and forming part of this specification certain specific disclosure of the invention is made for the purpose of explanation, but it will be understood that the details may be modified in various respects without departing from the broad spirit of the invention.

Referring to the drawing, a shoetree I has a toe piece 2, a heel piece 3, and a flexible resilient shank 4 shown in its free form at 4w (see Fig. 2) and its flexed form at 412 (see Fig. 3) Said shank l has formed in it a resilient hub 5 provided with an expansible opening 5 whereby said hub 5 may be snapped onto the supporting axle l carrying the 5 coil spring 8. Said hub 5 is of a diameter to pass readily to working position on the coil spring 8 and to be held between the spring ball-end 9 and the radial finger it while pressure is exerted by the spring part i l against said shank l. Said 10 spring 8 is anchored by its fixed end 12 engaging in the axle hole It. The rack I4 as a Whole, preferably made in a single piece, comprises said axle '5, adapted to support a plurality of said trees l, carried by the angle wall brackets I5 and. 15 may be screwed on a supporting wall 56.

The toe piece 2 having a cross-sectional shape generally like its rear end H has a bottom 22 with a forward sled-runner curved part 23 adapting it to glide readily into a shoe 3!.

To tree a shoe, the unoccupied tree I held by spring pressure with its toe against the wall or its equivalent for limiting backward rotation of said tree (see Fig. 2) is rotated into position 32 shown in dotted line (see Fig. 2). The shoe 3| is 25 thereupon treed then occupying the general position indicated at 35a. (see Fig. 3), the tree shank 4 being flexed. The occupied tree I may then be swung back to where, under pressure of spring 8, it will come to rest in a position with the sole of the shoe adjacent to the support 16 (see Fig. 3). The axle l is spaced out from the wall a distance adapted to permit of a limited rotation of a treed shoe in the manner described, said treed shoe normally occupying the space between said wall it? and a vertical line H passing through said axle l. The coil spring 8 is adapted normally to hold a treed shoe in the position adjacent the wall as shown (see Fig. 3), said spring as mounted also being adapted to maintain the spaced position of said tree longitudinally on said axle I.

For removing a shoe substantially the reverse of the above operation takes place, the shoe on the tree being rotated forward toward a generally horizontal position, the shoe then being removed and the tree being permitted to rotate under spring pressure back to the position in Fig. 3.

Some of the novel features and advantages of my invention will now be pointed out.

In order to provide a compact storage in the limited space generally available, the shoetrees are mounted on a rack in spaced positions and when not in use are held with their toe-pieces contacting the wall. Such close compact spacing makes it impractical to tree or de-tree shoes from immovably mounted trees. I have therefore devised a tree adapted to be movably carried on a support so that each tree independently may be moved or rotated into an accessible convenient 5 treeing position practically noninterfering as regards the supporting wall or as regards any shoes on adjacent trees, for which purpose a pivotal mounting of the tree is useful whether the axis of said pivot is generally parallel to the depth of a shoe in place or parallel to its width,

or at some other angle thereto.

In the treeing of a shoe on a tree, various parts of, or places on said tree Will assume constantly changing angles relative to its other parts and also relative to the shoe being placed thereon as said treeing operation progresses. Where the user of a tree'is handling same freely with one hand and a shoe with the other, these constantly changing relative angles are readily accommodated manually. If a tree is rigidly mounted at some point thereof in fixed position on a rack, it becomes an inconvenient and awkward operation to tree a shoe on account of said rigid mounting, but in my experimenting, I have discovered that by mounting a tree pivotally on an axis generally parallel to the shoe width of said tree, a shoe may easily and conveniently be treed thereon.

In my preferred construction therefor, I use a tree mounted with its hub having a rotational axis generally parallel to the width of a treed shoe as aforesaid, said axis being positioned to pass across the shoe upper near its heel end. When the shoe is treed to rotate freely on said axis, the shoe sole and heel or shoe bottom will gravitate to a generally inclined plane at an angle about half-way between the vertical and the horizontal. To cause the treed shoe to hang in a generally vertical position adjacent the wall, I prefer 40 to use a spring suitably mounted to provide pressure adapted to rotate the tree and to hold it in said preferred position.

My preferred shoetree is provided with a onepiece flexible resilient shank in which is formed 45 ,an open loop or hub which may be forcibly sprung or snapped onto a supporting axle and be re tained thereon unless forcibly removed, thereby providing a simple and convenient pivotal mounting'. The toe-piece I provide with a curved up sled-runner forward bottom part adapted to be passed into a shoe with a gliding action rather than tending to dig into the insole of the shoe.

The tree as a whole is simple in construction and is adapted for use in combination with my rack 55as Well as for ordinary detached use.

The shoetree rack is thus adapted to carry a plurality of pivotally mounted trees in spaced position in combination with the springs mounted thereon, to provide means for pressing the shoe- 60 trees when not in use into position with their toe-pieces against the wall, also maintaining the spaced position of said trees. When the tree is in use, the rack axle can serve as a protection to clothing hung adjacent said treed shoes.

65 I have referred to a wall as a convenient vertical surface for supporting my rack, a door also being appropriate, but the rack or its axle only may be suspended or carried from any available supporting means by obvious appropriate modi- 70 fication. The wall, or an equivalent stop, serves also to limit the rotation of the trees about the axle.

While I have shown and described a preferred construction for a shoetree and rack combina- 75 tion, I have found that the various details may be modified in various ways and still fall within the broad spirit of my invention and I wish to maintain all my rights to such modifications, limited only as set forth in the claims appended herewith.

For instance, the hub 5 may be. made as a separate part adapted to be attached to a shoetree. Likewise, shoetrees of different designs may be used in the general mode herein set forth. My device may be arranged to support the treed shoe, either with the heel up or with the toe up, or the treed shoe may be supported at some other than the generally vertical angle herein described as preferable.

In certain parts of this specification and claims I refer to elements of the shoetree positionedrelative to a normal shoe treed therewith. It is to beunderstood that said term normal shoe is used as a matter of convenience in wording and relates to any of the general Oxford type of shoes, one of which for women is illustrated in the drawing. Said term also refers to the corresponding type of low shoe for men.

In various places herein, I use terms such as pivotal mounting, hub and axle. These terms all relate to a construction wherein a pin, shaft or pivot engages with a generally encircling bearing or hub, providing for relative rotary motion about a generally fixed axial line. In principle, whether the hub part is on the stationary or the movable part, relative to the axle being on the other engaging part, is a matter of obvious mechanical equivalent.

By appropriate modification of the arrangement herein shown, consisting in bringing the pivotal axis closer to a vertical line through the center of gravity of the shoe when positioned on the tree, the spring may be made less strong and still serve its purpose. These and other modifications or variations of the principles of my invention are intended to be covered in my claims.

I claim:

1. In a shoe rack the combination of a supported bearing member, a shoetree pivotally mounted thereon, and spring means acting between said bearing member and said shoetree whereby said shoetree is yieldably held in a predetermined position.

2. In a shoe rack the combination of a supported bearing member, a shoetree pivotally mounted thereon, and a spring with one end suitably attached to said bearing member and the other end acting on said shoe tree to force it to assume a predetermined position.

3. In a shoe rack the combination of a supported bearing member, a shoetree pivotally mounted thereon, and a spring with one end suitably attached to said bearing member and the other end acting on said shoetree to force it to assume a predetermined position characterized by said spring encircling said bearing member to provide in turn the bearing surface for the pivotal movement of the shoetree.

4. In a shoe rack the combination of a supported bearing member, a shoetree pivotally mounted thereon, a spring with one end suitably attached to said bearing member and the other end acting on said shoetree to force it to assume a predetermined position, and means whereby said spring may position said tree length-wise on said bearing member.

5. A shoetree and rack comprising a shoetree rack adapted to support on a wall; an axle on said rack generally parallel to said Wall; a shoetree; and a hub fixed on said tree adapted to its pivotal support on said axle; said axle, said tree, and said pivotal hub all being positioned relative to each other and to said supporting Wall whereby a treed shoe may normally occupy a protected position generally behind said axle and adjacent said wall; said relative positions providing for the pivotal movement of said tree generally away from said Wall for accessibility in treating a shoe thereon.

6. A shoetree rack combination comprising a supporting rack, a shoetree mounted thereon, mounting means providing for the pivotal movement of said mounted tree thereby facilitating the treeing of a shoe thereon, and means for holding said pivotally movable tree in a predetermined position.

'7. A shoetree rack combination comprising a supporting rack, a shoetree pivotally mounted thereon with its pivotal axis positioned adjacent the heel-end of said tree, and means for holding said pivotally movable tree in a predetermined position.

8. A shoe straightening tree having a toe piece and a heel piece connected by a rigidly attached, longitudinally extending, continuous spring shank devoid of pivotal joints and adapted generally throughout its length to flex substantially and resiliently thereby facilitating the placing of said tree into a shoe wherein it may position flexed and exerting resilient shoestraightening pressure; and one member of a huband-axle mechanism provided on said tree adapted to engage with a supported companion other member thereof, thereby providing means whereby said tree may be rotatably permanently mounted on a continuously-engaging external support; said tree when axially supported being adapted resiliently and flexibly, gradually to assume substantially changing angular positions about said axis, and also changing curving forms, such as to offer the least resistance to the manual operation of conveniently placing a shoe in a resiliently stressed, shoe-straightening position on said flexible tree when mounted.

9. A shoe straightening tree having a toe piece and a heel piece connected by a rigidly attached, longitudinally extending, continuous spring shank devoid of pivotal joints and adapted generally throughout its length to flex substantially and resiliently thereby facilitating the placing of said tree into a shoe wherein it may position flexed and exerting resilient shoe-straightening pressure; and one member of a hub-and-axle mechanism provided on said tree adapted to engage with a supported companion other member there of, thereby providing means whereby said tree may be rotatably permanently mounted on a continuously-engaging external support, with the axial line of said rotation positioned generally parallel to the width of said tree and at approximately a right angle to the length thereof; said tree when axially supported being adapted resiliently and flexibly, gradually to assume substantially changing angular positions about said axis, and also changing curving forms, such as to offer the least resistance to the manual operation of conveniently placing a shoe in a resiliently stressed, shoe-straightening position on said flexible tree when mounted.

PAUL S. MAcMICHAEL. 

